Business groups back economic charter change

MANILA, Philippines–The foreign business community in the Philippines urged the Aquino administration to lock in the gains it has achieved so far by institutionalizing reforms and crucial policies that will ensure a sustained inclusive growth over the long term.

The Aquino administration, in its last 16 months in office, must work on the fundamentals that include further liberalization of trade; easing of the restrictions in the economic provisions of the Philippine Constitution and passing pending bills that will ensure transparency; securing the certainty and predictability of the business environment; and the creation of a true level playing field in the country, the Joint Foreign Chambers said at the Fourth Arangkada Assessment Forum 2015 on Tuesday.

Further reforms on infrastructure, judiciary system, fiscal and regulatory regimes, education, peace and security are also necessary to ensure that the economic gains will trickle down to the grassroots level, the group said.

“For the Philippines to make growth more inclusive, successive presidential administrations should undertake reforms that sustain and increase GDP (gross domestic product) growth. This will require continued good governance, political will to undertake more structural reforms, better infrastructure, a fair regulatory regime, and better business costs,” JFC leaders said in the forum.

The JFC noted that the Aquino administration has achieved significant gains in terms of implementing reforms, boosting economic growth, raising the level of investor confidence, and improving international credit and competitiveness ratings.

Based on the assessments made by the JFC, 74.22 percent of the group’s 462 recommendations were deemed as active or moving as of end-2014, up from the 73.26 percent in 2013, said John D. Forbes, senior adviser at the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.

The 2014 level was a big leap from the 51.44 percent in 2011.

What was important, Forbes said, was that these recommendations were moving forward and that there was progress year after year.

Data from JFC showed that of the 462 recommendations, only 21 have been completed; 117 are considered under substantial progress; 193 proposals have been started; 88 remained dormant; 27 measures are considered on regression, while the remaining 16 were no longer relevant.

There were also 20 main sectors and subsectors that were deemed to be active or moving, while nine were deemed less active, including mining, logistics, manufacturing, power, seaports, telecommunications, and foreign equity.

In another development, Ramon R. Del Rosario Jr., chair of the  Makati Business Club, said the Aquino administration must focus on unfinished, but critical priority measures.

“Chief among these is the Freedom of Information Bill, which I continue to hope will finally pass in the House of Representatives. We strongly support the FOI bill as it will institutionalize the culture of transparency and accountability that President Aquino has initiated. The FOI bill must be passed so that our noteworthy good governance gains will be largely irreversible and sustained in subsequent administrations,” Del Rosario said.

“I would like to strongly reiterate our call to amend the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution. This amendment will give Congress the flexibility to determine which areas of the economy should be opened to increased foreign participation based on thorough deliberations from the committee level to the plenary,” he said.

According to del Rosario, the Philippines is among the very few nations with specific economic restrictions lodged into its constitution, whereas a large number of countries subscribe to the principle of allowing their legislatures to determine economic policy.

“We also believe that engaging in economic Charter Change will be beneficial for the medium and long term, especially in this period of Asean integration and the improved attractiveness of the Philippines as an investment destination,” he said.

Del Rosario said greater openness in certain sectors was a prerequisite to joining high-level agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.